| Instinctively drawn to especially acoustic areas, she unleashes her voice into these reverberant spaces, singing into cisterns, stairwells, parking garages and of course, tunnels.
This disc was recorded live in a 2,000,000-gallon underground water tank ("the Cistern Chapel") which creates a 45-second reverberation as Shoemaker's voice echoes and re-echoes amongst eighty-eight roof support pillars, and returns softly diffused. Subtle textures are added by other locational occurences during recording, including falling grains of sand, water droplets, bird songs and droning planes and insects.
Awash in simple beauty, the soft vocal tones of Ojibway (7:50) swim within aqueous soundwaves, float in lengthy sustains. The eleven other tracks are actually quite similar, varying slightly in delivery, but retaining the otherworldy sound qualities which mark the overall recording. The cathedral-like ambiance seems to fit the reverent intonations of Secrets as Shoemaker sings in lower, somehow monastic tones.
In Ellisella, rippling vocals are joined by occasional deeper grumbles (as if emitted from a didgeridoo, though they're not). The sparse self-replicating wails of Lost form a ghost-chorus which hovers in the air, marked by a chilly sense of isolation. Shining more brightly, Sea Stars (1:55) emit trickling notes which trail in undulating waves.
Besides Water Birth, Lee Ellen has documented her song in other naturally hyperacoustic spaces; 1997's Ravens in Moonlight was captured live in an artillery tunnel (with didgeridoo and
percussion), and in 1995, Inner Runes was recorded live in a 64-foot tall support column of San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts rotunda. By all means, visit the Tunnel Singer website for more info and hear selected samples from each release presented in a variety of formats.
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